Jason Reitman to Direct New Ghostbusters Movie

Jason Reitman to direct new Ghostbusters movie

Entertainment Weekly brings word that Academy Award nominee Jason Reitman will direct and co-write a new Ghostbusters movie, which will be set in the same universe as the first two films. Gil Kenan go-wrote the script with Reitman; Reitman’s father Ivan Reitman, who directed the first two Ghostbusters movies, will produce.

“I’ve always thought of myself as the first Ghostbusters fan, when I was a 6-year-old visiting the set. I wanted to make a movie for all the other fans,” Reitman told the outlet. “This is the next chapter in the original franchise. It is not a reboot. What happened in the ‘80s happened in the ‘80s, and this is set in the present day.”

Sony Pictures will release the film in the summer of 2020 and are aiming to begin production later this year.

“We have a lot of wonderful surprises and new characters for the audience to meet,”Reitman said, not yet indicating if any of the cast members from the original films will appear. Reitman did indicate that the new movie will not pick up from where the previous Ghostbusters movie in 2016 ended.

“It will be a passing of the torch both inside and out,” Ivan Reitman added. “It was a decision he had to come to himself. He worked really hard to be independent and developed a wonderful career on his own. So I was quite surprised when he came to me with Gil and said, ‘I know I’ve been saying for 10 years I’m the last person who should make a Ghostbusters movie, but…I have this idea.’ Literally, I was crying by the end of it, it was so emotional and funny.”

EW confirms that Sony remains in-development on an animated Ghostbusters in addition to the new live-action film.